Violent Clashes Plague Sudan’s Capital, Leaving Civilians in Misery and Dire Conditions
Sudan’s rival military forces have been locked in battles across the capital, exacerbating the suffering of civilians already grappling with scarce water, food, and medicine. Reports of artillery fire and air strikes emerged on Tuesday, with residents in southern and eastern Khartoum, as well as the city of Bahri to the north, bearing witness to the onslaught. Amidst the chaos, looting has ravaged neighborhoods, with some attributing the pillaging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group. Cars have been stolen, safes have been broken into, and homes have been occupied, leaving residents terrified.
The situation has led to a dire humanitarian crisis, with aid groups struggling to provide assistance. Shortages of electricity, dwindling supplies in shops and pharmacies, and intensified fighting have made it challenging for neighborhood-based resistance committees to distribute much-needed food and medicines.
In the streets of Omdurman, situated across the Nile from Khartoum, the Sudanese army and RSF engaged in overnight clashes near the army’s Engineers Corps base. While the army managed to maintain its positions around the base, it faced difficulty in repelling the RSF, which controls the majority of the rest of the city.
Over the past eight weeks, clashes between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as “Hemedti,” have resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties, with 400,000 people displaced across the border and over 1.2 million fleeing the capital and other cities.
In besieged urban areas, desperate residents are growing increasingly frustrated with the warring factions. Witness accounts from Khartoum’s north describe dozens of protesters gathering, chanting slogans denouncing Burhan and Hemedti as murderers.